Stovetops, also referred to cooktops, stoves, cookstoves, hotplates, cookers, and the like, generally refer to devices for cooking food. Nevertheless, it should be appreciated that these devices have also been used for other purposes, such as heating a room, preparation of chemical formulations needing heat to promote chemical reactions, and the like. The stovetop generally includes an upper surface for supporting and heating the food using a pot or pan that contains the food while being in direct contact with the stovetop for transferring the heat generated by the stovetop to the food in the pot or pan.
Nevertheless, stovetops often have certain drawbacks that limit their usefulness. For example, conventional stovetops typically have a heating surface whose size, shape, and location on the stovetop that are fixed and cannot be changed. Due to this fixed-size limitation, a pot or pan having a contact surface larger than the size of the stovetop using conductive or convective heating may exhibit uneven heating across its surface, while a pot or pan smaller than the size of the stovetop may leave portions of the stovetop exposed thus reducing the efficiency of the stovetop and even possibly forming a safety hazard for users who may inadvertently come in contact with the exposed heating surface. It is with these drawbacks in mind that embodiments of the present invention have been developed.